Blackfeather Woods nobody can save you now

Cicero was growing rapidly. Over the past month, he had grown from babbling baby to somewhat-coherent child, and his body had grown too. The baby fat had fallen off him, leaving him with a lean frame that now, for the first time, betrayed his tendency to look underweight through his thin fur. Today the child wandered through Blackfeather Woods, always looking for something new to discover. Truthfully, he found the outside world that Burke had showed him full of excitement too, but for now he was not allowed to go outside without a guardian, so he listened to his mother and kept to the territories.

"Oooo skwerl," Cicero piped up excitedly when he saw a grey squirrel nuzzling through the undergrowth of the forest. It wasn't far off, though it had a limp in its step. When it noticed the young wolf nearby, it just stood still, barely breathing, hoping that it would go unnoticed and could slip on by.

Unfortunately for the squirrel, Cicero had already noticed it, and he lowered his body to the ground, ready to pounce. He dashed forward, and the squirrel, realised the sights set on it, tried to limp away. Cicero pounced and landed next to the critter, where he began batting at it. The squirrel got swatted to the ground and struggled on its back for a moment while Cicero's haunting "heeheehee" echoed through the woods.